“Is something wrong?” Noah asked and I realized I’d been staring at the cover sheet for an inexplicably long time.
“Sorry.” I hurried to flip the page. “No, I just—uh—like to be thorough.”
“Don’t apologize, Holly.” I dared to meet Noah’s eyes and found him smiling. “That’s a very good quality in a CPA.”
I returned his easy smile and then dropped my eyes back to the contract pages. There was some truth to what I’d said. I wasn’t willing to sign anything unless I’d read every word at least once. Even those annoying phone contracts. Fifty plus pages of bullshit but I’d read it all. It was a habit.
I moved along, asking questions where necessary, and signing each page I completed. We were nearing the end of the packet when Noah pushed up from the table. “I apologize. I didn’t offer you anything to drink. Would you like some coffee?”
I’d had a cup, made with the cheap plastic coffee machine in my hotel room. The result was a thick, nearly black liquid that had enough grounds in it to make it feel like I’d eaten the damn beans whole. I’d sucked it down anyway, out of necessity, but a make-up cup sounded fantastic. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes at the memory of the hotel room and I quickly nodded. “That would be great.”
“I’ll be right back.” He slipped from the room.
“What is the matter with you, Holly? Get it together,” I murmured to myself, wiping at my eyes to make sure any trace of the near-waterworks wasn’t visible upon Noah’s return. The last thing I needed was him thinking he’d just hired some unglued trainwreck.
I managed to get myself together by the time Noah returned, a tray in his hands. He slid it onto the table and then spun it, so a tall ceramic mug was in front of me. Also on the tray was a stainless steel pitcher of cream and a variety of sugar options. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
I doctored up my coffee and he took his seat beside me, his own mug firmly in hand. “Any questions while I was out?”
I had a lot of questions. But none of them were ones Noah knew the answers to. I smiled up at him and shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
We finished the paperwork and he called in his assistant, who took the packet and raced off to make copies. We lingered over our coffee as we waited for her to return. At one point, Noah’s eyes landed on my hand and I followed his gaze to see he was staring at the place on my finger where my engagement ring usually sat. I had a thin tan line from months of wearing it around the clock, even at the beach. I curled my hand into a ball and set it on my lap. He didn’t say a word but I knew he was thinking about it.
I was about to tell him it was getting cleaned or resized but his assistant came back into the room before I could fumble my way through the excuse. She handed me a glossy folder. “Your copies, Ms. Parker. Now, Mr. Scoville mentioned that you’re engaged. Not to pry, but would you like me to set up your company email with your married name so you don’t have to switch over later?”
My heart slammed into my chest and then crumpled into a ball and plummeted to my stomach. “I—uh—I’m not planning on changing my name. Parker is fine.”
The woman gave me a polite smile and then dashed back out the door, leaving Noah and me alone again. This time the room seemed smaller and the air was thick, as though a sudden burst of humidity had filtered in somehow. I kept my eyes trained on the ocean and breathed in time with the waves as they hit the shore.
“Is everything okay, Holly?” Noah asked after a long moment. He reached out and brushed his fingers on my forearm. It was a gesture of compassion but nearly sent me jumping out of my skin.
“Yes!” I replied, too loudly. Too sharply. “Sorry. Yes. I’m fine. What’s next on the agenda? I’m available all afternoon if you have more for me.”
Noah considered me for a minute and then stood up. He set his empty coffee mug on the tray and I followed, resting mine beside his and then stood up as well. “We already covered the tour, so you’re ahead of the game. If you’d like, I can take you to your office and you can get familiar with our employee handbook. I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t heard of before, but I like all new hires to go through it. Helps to ensure we’re all on the same page.”
I nodded. Good. Hours of mindless reading would be just what I needed. That was, if I could keep my thoughts from drifting too much.